Restaurant portion sizes are huge

[Paq]

Does anyone else find this? Went to a pub/restaurant last night and the portion sizes were insane. I managed a third of my salad, brought the rest home and shared it with DH for lunch today. DD got through half her curry and 6'1" hollow legged DH just about managed to finish his risotto but then felt overstuffed all night.

That’s the point there is no unanimous mn opinion what constitutes an adequate portion

But there is scientific data that suggests women generally only require 1500- 2000 calories per day. Many pub and restaurants main meals are over 1500 calories, some are over 2000 and that is before you add in beverages and restaurants other courses. Women form approximately half the population. Added to this calorie requirements go down once you get past a certain age and children don't require those type of portions either. All in all the majority of the population.

A lot will overeat out of embarrassment if they were taught to finish a meal / hate food waste
⬆️And there you go again projecting your dysfunctional views about food onto others with terms like overeat.
It's a well observed phenomenon. And it's not just my 'dysfunction' as a large percentage of the population have problems with being overweight or obese.

Only on mn do I hear of these gargantuan portions that are too big to finish and must be shared over days. Eat what you wish, leave the rest
Same here.
Also only on MN do I encounter people who seem particularly adamant that their way of eating is the healthy way to be and anyone who eats more must be a glutton or have dysfunctional eating habits (usually after several posts what materialises is that they have a strict, limited or judgey attitude to food and so view everyone else's food intake through the lens of I couldn't/ wouldn't eat that and I am healthy so obviously they must be unhealthy, greedy, a glutton, have no self control, must eat until stuffed, (insert other bizarre food hang up judgement here))
Some people really struggle with the idea that there's lots of ways to eat and that others might know what works for their bodies.

And it's not just my 'dysfunction' as a large percentage of the population have problems with being overweight or obese.

Well, I don't and the rest of my immediate family don't. We don't want / need others to police restaurant portions for us.

Those who are worried should leave some food / choose a smaller meal rather than try to reduce portion sizes for all!

Yes, sometimes they are calorific because they're large, but sometimes it'll be to do with the amount of butter / cream etc in the recipe and sometimes it'll be because of the size AND the recipe.

Give me the butter and cream! They are extremely satiating. Look at Jason Fung's research. So that's why I talk about a smaller portion and adding in salad or non starchy veg to fill the rest of the plate. A plate of plain boiled potatoes or plain boiled white rice isn't particularly palatable or filling per volume of food.

. We don't want / need others to police restaurant portions for us.

The government are already talking about initiatives to do just this for the sake of the nation's health.

I don't need to look at anybody's research, as I'm happy with restaurant portions. I also know what fills me up and that I want a balanced meal!

Just eat less if you want to eat less. Sorted.

Some people really struggle with the idea that there's lots of ways to eat and that others might know what works for their bodies.

I don't. I am essentially only arguing for a choice in terms of smaller portions. The thing is when people argue against choice and judge me and others like me for choosing smaller portions or paying attention to calorific load then I will defend why I think having this choice is necessary. Give me and people like me our choice then everyone is happy and there is less need for defending our own choices which some perceive as judgment upon them.

@grasstreeleaf you just repeatedly listed about calorie content and over eating whilst making sweeping presumptions about others eg overeat due to embarrassment . You count calories prior to going out for meal, on occasion you discuss calories during meal. Overall you really come across as preoccupied and having a dysfunctional relationship with food

I don’t want or need the govt to mandate a

We went out last week. I was toying with just having a main, but when DH ordered a starter I stupidly did too. I ordered pate, and got an entire slab of pate - the size you buy in a supermarket pack, which usually does the two of us 2-3 times! Stupidly I ate it all (and enjoyed it). My main was chilli and nachos. With rice. Plus accompaniments. I ate about 1/3 and was absolutely stuffed, as well as embarrassed. In my case, it's probably age-related.

Late FIL was one of those people who just had to clear his plate, come what may. Late MIL used to move stuff off her plate onto his, saying, "I can't eat all this, you'll have to eat it". It was painful watching him keeping going, especially once dementia had developed and he struggled with a knife and fork. Poor man.

(Should have said, the pate came with 4 oatcakes and salad, so it was a full plateful!)

That's one of the problems, you often don't know how much food you're going to get, especially for starters, which could be something like four prawns and a lettuce leaf, or enough pate and oatcakes for about 4 people.

I would have eaten the pate and oatcakes, picked at the chilli to be polite and shamelessly taken about 80% of it away with me, telling the staff that it was very nice, but I'm full, so please can I have it boxed up for takeaway.

When we went out on holiday, we ordered starters the first time and then all 3 of us - body building teen DS included- struggled to eat our main.

I didn't have chips with mine but basically DH and DS just left most of theirs and ate the protein element.

We all laughed about it and agreed not to order starters next time. No drama or hand wringing about food waste or doggy bags of unappetisingly reheated food.

Incidentally when away with some relatives they would inevitably store takeaway leftovers in the fridge and not eat them. Leftover curry is great, most other things not so much.

I generally don't order starters either, unless I'm a) really hungry and b) can tell that it's a light option so as not to ruin my appetite.

If I do consider I've over-eaten after eating out, I'm careful for a day or so afterwards to balance it out. (I don't calorie count though, just reduce carbs / beer!) Gone are the days I could eat anything and everything and not put weight on, sadly. In those days I'd have had 3 courses with no issues at all.

It was a big salad especially if it came on the larger plate. I would never choose to eat a salad at a restaurant anyway but I can see how it would be a struggle even for two people sharing it. Same with the Thai curry, two people could share it. It looks like the place you went to had big portion sizes, I would have skipped lunch or just had some fruit if I knew I was going there.

Everyone has a different idea on portion sizes, my mum thinks you haven't enjoyed a meal unless you have had seconds. My dh will give me the same amount as he eats even though he is a foot taller than me.

If I do consider I've over-eaten after eating out, I'm careful for a day or so afterwards to balance it out. (I don't calorie count though, just reduce carbs / beer!) Gone are the days I could eat anything and everything and not put weight on, sadly. In those days I'd have had 3 courses with no issues at al

Well, I think it's interesting that lots of menopausal women say how extremely hard it is to lose weight and how easy extra weight goes on since their hormone levels have changed. Maybe some people do view my lifestyle as very strict but I have managed to lose 4 stone during peri menopause/ menopause. Taking HRT is ill advised due to having had breast cancer. I just think lack of a small portion choice is yet another way menopausal women are overlooked.

@EspressoDoubleShot

Paq, you seen somewhat defensive regard my posts and trying to deflect by criticising me It’s a obvious and somewhat crude defence mechanism. However, please do continue

It's a dreary tactic, to throw lazy accusations at someone and then mock them for being defensive. I'm not interested in anything else you might have to say.

Well that’s interesting approach.portray yourself as the wronged party
Oh no! Is your bestie not here to pile on for you

Well, I think it's interesting that lots of menopausal women say how extremely hard it is to lose weight and how easy extra weight goes on since their hormone levels have changed. Maybe some people do view my lifestyle as very strict but I have managed to lose 4 stone during peri menopause/ menopause. Taking HRT is ill advised due to having had breast cancer. I just think lack of a small portion choice is yet another way menopausal women are overlooked.

Yes, but I'm not overweight and have no desire to have restaurant portions policed. I put weight on once I got into my 30s, since then I've been careful. Which is what I suggest, rather than trying to control what portions other adults get in restaurants.

Which is what I suggest, rather than trying to control what portions other adults get in restaurants.

I'm not trying to control other people's portions in restaurants though, just defending my reasons for wishing there was an option of having a smaller portion without ordering off menu or leaving food, transporting it home.

Yes, but I'm not overweight and have no desire to have restaurant portions policed.

Advocating for extra choice is the opposite of wanting restaurant portions to be policed. Extra choice provides extra freedom. And I'm not overweight at all now either. However, the whole process of losing weight has highlighted to me how oversized a lot of pub and restaurant portions are.

And people accept 'weights and measures' standards to be clear about how much alcohol you are buying. You generally can buy different sized drinks. Eating establishments which are licensed manage with that. Why would some of that clarification regarding meal's calorific values and offering a choice of meal size be such a bad thing?

I lost weight after having my children. I chose something smaller / less calorific from the menu if we went out. Which everybody can already do now. Options for every meal on the menu really aren't needed. That just adds cost for the restaurant in having to administer those options.

I lost weight after having my children

But most people report how much harder this is during and after peri/menopause. Just after having children suggests you weren't peri/menopausal.

I always prepare myself to bring half home (as I did today actually). And children’s meals are usually really large. Good value though because we’ve all got tea for tomorrow!! And children’s puddings are easily as big as adult ones!!

Rice in the middle of a curry seems wrong.

They put the salad over the hummus too.

So sad

What stops me from ordering children’s meals in place of an adult main is that by and large, the kids menu is full of utter tripe that I don’t want to eat. Chips and fish fingers/chicken strips, some boiled veg and a fruit shoot or along those lines.

I want the types of foods on offer on the adult menu, but in a small portion.

I’m at great pains to point out here, I’m not competitively underrating, or siding with those so inclined in this thread, I have a surgically altered small stomach (as I mentioned up thread) so do legitimately need a smaller portion because eating a lot makes me poorly. Im happy to leave what I don’t want, or distribute it round the rest of the table, but still end up with the inevitable enquiry from the waitress about whether my food was okay as I’ve not eaten much.